Armed with "scientific evidence" that the African cheetah is "not an alien species" and can survive in India, the government is planning to petition the Supreme Court to allow the import of the animal that became extinct 60 years ago.

By Richa Sharma, New Delhi, May 19 : Armed with "scientific evidence" that the African cheetah is "not an alien species" and can survive in India, the government is planning to petition the Supreme Court to allow the import of the animal that became extinct 60 years ago.

An obscure, extinct creature that had scissor-like claws is being named after Hollywood star Johnny Depp, who played Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 movie.
The actor, known for taking on quirky characters in his movies, had the rare honour after a 505-million-year-old fossil was discovered by the

New York, May 16 : The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the international non-profit organization Slow Food on Wednesday agreed to promote traditional cooking and locally produced food as part of a project to boost incomes for small farmers and rural communities.

Washington, May 16 : A new study into the incubation behavior of modern birds has shed new light on the type of parental care carried out by their long extinct ancestors -Theropods, a group of carnivorous dinosaurs from which birds descended.

Coot, bar-headed geese, grey leg geese, demoiselle and common cranes, tern, gull, red-crested poachard and lesser whistling teel are some of the 62 varieties of migratory birds recorded at Kurra, a wetland in Mainpuri district. These birds are now rare.

Centuries ago, when we started to understand the world around us, curiosity made us explore many wonders, including birds, animals, small creatures and the plant world. In the pre-Independence years, pioneering work was done by the British civil servant and ornithologist, AO Hume. He gathered data on as many as 82,000 bird species at a time when very little was known about the avian world. Not just that, he discovered almost 100 different bird species for the world, which is why we call him the father of Indian ornithology.
However, that was a different era and specimen collection was important for science. But some institutes, museums and individuals are still collecting specimens as was done centuries ago. Which leads to the concern that these repeated collections may adversely affect the populations of rare species, especially in certain reptiles and orchids. These rare species go to natural history collections and scientists. As a consequence, this rarity-fuelled demand may reduce the numbers, ...